U.S. patent number 6,142,387 [Application Number 09/173,448] was granted by the patent office on 2000-11-07 for multipurpose air fountain.
Invention is credited to Wuu-Cheau Jou.
United States Patent |
6,142,387 |
Jou |
November 7, 2000 |
Multipurpose air fountain
Abstract
The present invention relates to a multipurpose air fountain,
and more particularly to an air fountain which can join with
various blowpipes and accessory components to assemble an especial
air tool for meeting different purposes--like a cleaning air gun,
an inflating gun, a blasting dust gun and a painting spray gun. The
present invention provides an air fountain that can connect with
different length blowpipes, which can swivel to any orientation to
improve the flexibility of the operation and to meet the
necessaries of variety working places. The blowpipe can be replaced
with an inflating adapter so that the air fountain works as an
inflating gun for the tire. As attaching a spraying adapter, by a
manifold with an extending hose, the air fountain can be refitted
into a cleaning gun with a good absorbing effect. By means of the
various attachments, the air fountain provided by the present
invention can be refitted into a blast gun, an inflating gun, a
cleaning gun or a painting gun.
Inventors: |
Jou; Wuu-Cheau (Tali City,
Tiachung Hsien, TW) |
Family
ID: |
26062385 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/173,448 |
Filed: |
October 16, 1998 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
239/390; 239/391;
239/396; 239/525; 239/526; 239/DIG.21; 239/DIG.22 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B05B
1/005 (20130101); B05B 7/0815 (20130101); B05B
7/2424 (20130101); Y10S 239/22 (20130101); Y10S
239/21 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B05B
7/08 (20060101); B05B 7/02 (20060101); B05B
7/24 (20060101); B05B 1/00 (20060101); A62C
031/02 (); B05B 007/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;239/390,391,396,436,442,525,526,DIG.21,DIG.22 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Kashnikow; Andres
Assistant Examiner: Evans; Robin O.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Claims
I claim:
1. A multipurpose air fountain, comprising:
an air blast gun having a blowpipe, said blowpipe having internal
threads formed at an output end thereof;
a versatile adapter having a first end threadedly engaged with said
output end of said blowpipe, a second end of said versatile adapter
having threads formed thereon; and,
a spraying adapter threadedly engaged to said second end of said
versatile adapter, said spraying adapter including:
a. a splicing sleeve threadedly coupled to said versatile
adapter;
b. a nozzle valve having a fitting section formed on one end
thereof and disposed in said splicing sleeve, a nozzle section
formed on an opposing end of said nozzle valve, and a threaded
portion intermediate said nozzle section and said fitting section,
said nozzle valve having a through bore extending between said
opposing ends thereof and said nozzle section has a pair of
side-wind holes formed therein in open communication with said
through bore;
c. a nozzle carrier having an inlet opening formed on a first end
coupled to said threaded portion of said nozzle valve and a an
outlet nipple formed on an second end thereof, said nozzle carrier
having a jet exhaust bore formed between said inlet opening and
second ends thereof, at least a portion of said nozzle section of
said nozzle valve being disposed in said jet exhaust bore and said
side-wind holes being in open communication with said inlet
opening, said nozzle carrier having a manifold formed on a side
thereof, said manifold having a housing hole formed therein in open
communication with said jet exhaust bore, said housing hole having
a conically shaped portion connecting said housing hole to said jet
exhaust bore, said nozzle carrier having a diversion hole extending
between said inlet opening and said housing hole to provide passage
of compressed air from said inlet opening to said housing hole;
d. a fitting valve disposed in said housing hole adjacent said
conically shaped portion, said fitting valve having a pair of
spaced flange and an annular recess formed therebetween, said
annular recess being disposed in aligned relationship with said
diversion hole and one of said flanges having a plurality of
openings formed therethrough to provide open communication between
said annular recess and said conically shaped portion of said
housing hole; and,
e. a pipe fitting secured to said manifold in said housing hole,
whereby a high suction is formed at said pipe fitting responsive to
compressed air being passed through said nozzle section for drawing
a fluid into said jet exhaust bore through said housing hole and
spraying the fluid from said outlet nipple.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multipurpose air fountain, and
more particularly to an air fountain which can join with various
blowpipes and accessory components to assemble an especial air tool
for meeting different purposes--like a cleaning air gun, an
inflating gun, a blasting dust gun and a painting spray gun.
2. Description of Prior Art
In accordance with a common conventional air fountain 10, as shown
on FIG. 18, it is used for blasting dirt dust, iron scurf, etc., in
which the blow-pipe 11 is embedded and fixed on the main holder 12
for preventing it from loosing, so the length of the blowpipe 11 is
constant, and unable to be changed. For meeting the different
necessaries of working space conditions, the user should dispose
more than one air gun with different lengths of blow-pipe so that
the operator can choice the most convenient one to meet the work
space situation. So the production cost will be increased. In
addition, because the embedded blowpipe 11 can not be swivelled,
the operator will feel very inconvenience as working on a lower
space like nearing the bottom side of the machine. For example, if
operator want to clean the bottom side of a drilling machine, he
has to squat lower and turn over his wrist holding the air gun so
that the jet opening aim at the bottom side of the working table,
it will put the operator into tired easily, even though like that,
there are some places can not be got.
In the garage, the blasting dust air gun is an essential tool, and
the tire inflating air gun is an other necessity tool, but in
general, every working site is distributed only one outlet of the
compressed air so that the worker often has to change the blast gun
and the inflating gun alternately. It put the worker into
inconvenience.
As cleaning the engine outside surface in the common garage, by
means of spraying the chemical detersives like diesel oil or
toluene, and co-operating with a brush, the grease spots are
brushed off. But the inside surface, due to the high accuracy
requirement of the inside of the engine, any scratching trace is
not allowed existing, so the brush can not be used in this
situation. The cleaning gun 20 becomes the best of clean tool, as
shown on FIG. 19, nearing the jet opening of the cleaning gun 20, a
T extending manifold 21 is built upon, and fastened with a hose 22.
The free end of the hose 22 extends into the inside of a tank 23,
thereby absorb the toluene (or diesel oil) into the nozzle to mix
with air, then jetted out to wash the inside of the engine. If the
hose 22 is longer than a certain length, the absorbing force is not
able to pump enough liquid up to produce a good clean effect. And
in general, 1 meter length of the hose 22 is a limit to provide
essential absorbing force to pump the liquid up, so the operator
will be limited in about 1 meter radius. But the operator usually
works over 1.5 meters radius, hence the operator has to move the
engine or the toluene tank 23 as working. It puts the operator to
inconvenience.
1. Additionally, painting procedure is claimed with a high rate in
common mechanical factories and garages, timber mills and so on.
The main tool in the painting procedure is painting gun, as shown
in FIG. 20. The spraying principle of the painting gun is the same
as the cleaning gun 20 By securing a painting nozzle 30 on front
tip of a conventional air fountain 10 which extends a manifold 31
connecting a hose 311, and the hose 311 is placed into a paint can
attached on the bottom side of the painting nozzle 30, the paint is
absorbed up from the bottom of the paint can via the hose 311 by
the jetting air flow. Nearing the front end of the painting nozzle
30, a pair of radial through holes 32 is built upon for leading the
outside air in, as spraying the paint and air, to reduce the jet
air pressure and atomised paint pressure to avoid the jetted paint
reflecting as touching against the surface of the work-piece so as
to prevent the paint form unsticking. Meanwhile the jetted atomised
paint appears a radiant cone so that the paint can be sprayed on
the surface of work-piece evenly. This is a main feature of the
conventional painting nozzle 30. But the shortcoming of the
painting nozzle 30 is the same as the cleaning gun. Due to the
limit of the absorbing force, and the high viscosity of the paint
near the bottom side, spraying mere air is often happened.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the conventional air
fountain, the present invention provides an air fountain that can
connect with different length blowpipes, which can swivel to any
orientation to improve the flexibility of the operation and to meet
the necessaries of variety working places. The blowpipe can be
replaced with an inflating adapter so that the air fountain works
as an inflating gun for the tire. As attaching a spraying adapter,
by a manifold with an extending hose, the air fountain can be
refitted into a cleaning gun with a good absorbing effect. By means
of the various attachments, the air fountain provided by the
present invention can be refitted into a blast gun, an inflating
gun, a cleaning gun or a painting gun.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the blasting adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 3 is a cross-section view showing assembling with the blasting
adapter of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing the short blasting adapter of
the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a cross-section view showing assembling with the short
blasting adapter of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an exploded view showing the inflating adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross-section view showing the inflating adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 8 is a cross-section view showing an operation of the
inflating adapter of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is an exploded view showing the spraying adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 10 is a cross solid view showing the spraying adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 11 is a cross-section view showing assembling with spraying
adapter of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a cross-section view showing an operation of the
spraying adapter for spraying paint of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a cross-section view showing an operation of the
spraying adapter for jetting toluene to wash of the present
invention.
FIG. 14 is an exploded view showing the painting adapter of the
present invention.
FIG. 15 is a cross view showing the combined painting adapter of
the present invention.
FIG. 16 is a cross view showing an operation of the painting
adapter of the present invention.
FIG. 17 is a cross view showing the painting adapter with a paint
can of the present invention.
FIG. 18 is side view of a conventional blast gun.
FIG. 19 is a schematic drawing of the conventional cleaning
gun.
FIG. 20 is a schematic drawing of the conventional painting
gun.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention provides a blast gun 40,
in which the inside of the blowpipe 41 is built up with thread for
securing a versatile adapter 50 on with an O-ring 42 between of
them so as to seal the connection portion. The another end of the
versatile adapter 50 is a thread portion 51 for securing with a
blast adapter 60 (shown as FIG. 2), or an inflating adapter
70(shown as FIG. 6), or a spraying adapter 80 (shown as FIG. 9) and
so on to combine a blast gun, an inflating gun, a painting gun or a
cleaning gun to meet various purposes. Wherein:
The blast adapter 60, referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, includes a
free splicing sleeve 61 with a female thread 611 at the inside for
securing on the thread portion 51 of the versatile adapter 50, and
a blasting nozzle comprising a fitting 62 installing into the free
splicing sleeve 61 with an O-ring 621 putting on the outside of the
fitting 62, and a blowpipe 622 extending front the front end of the
fitting 62 with a certain length. Said free splicing sleeve 61 has
an anti-slip fringed outside surface for the convenience of
securing on or loosing out rapidly. Said versatile adapter 50 can
be connected with a short blasting nozzle 63 in screwing connection
also, as shown on FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.
The inflating adapter 70, referring to FIG. 6 , FIG. 7 and FIG. 8,
employs an inflating fitting instead of said blasting nozzle. Said
inflating fitting 71 has a ring groove 711 built upon the outside
surface for embedding an O-ring 710 in, and a nose-spike 712
extending out at the front end and taling the shape of a flat
stripe. Beside the nose-spike 712, the inflating fitting 71 has
several axial air holes 713 built on the front end for the
compressed air passing through. Said inflating fitting 71 is
installed into the inside of the free splicing sleeve 61, then the
free splicing sleeve 61 is secured on the thread portion 51 of the
versatile adapter 50 so that the nose-spike 712 stretches into the
front opening 612 of the free splicing sleeve 61, and slides at the
inside of the free splicing sleeve 61 axially.
The spraying adapter 80, referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 10 and FIG. 11,
includes a nozzle carrier 81, a nozzle valve 82, a fitting valve
83, a pipe connection 84 and several O-rings. Wherein said nozzle
carrier 81 has a threaded hole 811 at one end for screwing on the
nozzle valve 82, and a nipple 812 with a front end hole 813 at
another end, and a jet exhaust 814 connecting the front end hole
813 to the threaded hole 811, and a pair of diversion holes 815
built on the side of the jet exhaust 814, and an extending manifold
816 with a housing hole 817 built on the bottom side of the jet
exhaust 814 and a cone hole connecting the housing hole 817 to the
jet exhaust 814; said housing hole 817 is used for housing a
fitting valve 83, and the pipe connection 84 is secured on the
bottom end of the housing hole 817; a bevelled diversion hole 818
is built upon the nozzle carrier 81 connecting the threaded hole
811 to the housing hole 817, as shown on FIG. 10, so that the
compressed air can enter the housing hole 817. The fitting valve 83
has two flanges 831 and 832 respectively at both ends, on which
there is a ring groove 833 834 for embedding O-ring 835, 836 in
respectively; between the two flange 831 and 832, a ring dent 837
coordinating to the diversion hole 818, on the upper flange 831
there are several bevel holes 838 drilled connecting the top
surface to the ring dent 837 so as to lead the compressed air from
the ring dent 837 into the housing hole 817. Said nozzle valve 82
securing into the threaded hole 811 appears to a coupled
rod--consisting of a nozzle section 827, a threaded portion 821, a
round section and rear-end fitting section 822 arranged from the
front to rear sequentially. There are two ring grooves 823 and 824
built upon the root of the threaded portion 821 and the outside
wall of the fitting section 822 respectively for embedding two
O-rings 825 and 826 therein. Said nozzle section 827 is made in the
shape of a cone. A through hole 828 is formed in the nozzle valve
82 from the front tip to the rear end of the nozzle valve 82.
Co-ordinating to the threaded hole 811, a pair of side-wind holes
827 are built in the nozzle section 827. On the root of the nozzle
section 827 extending into the jet exhaust 814, a ring groove 8272
is formed for putting an O-ring 829 on. Said fitting section 822 is
located in the free splicing sleeve 61, and fixed on the front end
of the versatile adapter 50 so as to mount on the air fountain 40
to assemble a, spray gun with a high absorbing force spraying
adapter 80.
A The painting adapter 90, as shown on FIG. 14 and FIG. 15,
comprises an end socket ring 91 and a painting valve 92. Wherein
said end socket ring 91 has a threaded hole 911 for housing the
painting valve 92, and securing on the nipple 812 of the nozzle
carrier 81. On the cylinder 921 of the painting valve 92, there is
a ring groove 922 built on for embedding an O-ring 923 is An
extension tube extends from the rear end of the cylinder 921 for
fitting into the front-end hole 813 of the nozzle carrier 81. A
blind hole 925 is drilled on the extension tube 924, and on the
blind end there are many through pinholes 926 penetrating the front
end of the cylinder 921, and there are two opposite flat fins 927
formed on the front end of the cylinder 921 between the through
pinholes 926 axially. And there are two bevelled holes 928 drilled
on the cylinder 921 from the inside slants of the flat fins 927 to
the root of the extension tube 924 for leading out the compressed
air jetted from the front-end hole 813 of the nozzle carrier
81.
According to above, attaching different accessory meets various
purposes in practising operation. The detail description is as
follows:
1. Working as a common blasting gun:
(1) Exchange the long and the short blowpipes: referring to FIG. 4
and FIG. 5, the air fountain 40 attaches with the short blast
nozzle 63 secured on the versatile adapter 50 to assemble a
blasting gun. For meeting a narrow long working site, screw out the
short blast nozzle 63 from the versatile adapter 50; replace the
short blast nozzle 63 by a longer blowpipe 622, referring to FIG. 2
and FIG. 3, by the free splicing sleeve 61, the longer blowpipe 62
is located on the head of the versatile adapter 50 with the rear
end fitting 62 rapidly and easily.
(2) Orientating the direction of the outlet of the blowpipe freely:
as fixing the fitting 62 with the free splicing sleeve 61, by
screwing in the free splicing sleeve 61, the back side of the
fitting 62 is pressed on the head end of the thread portion 51 of
the versatile adapter 50. When reorienting the direction of the
blowpipe 622, loose the free splicing sleeve 61 so as to free, and
to turn the blowpipe 622 so that the outlet directs to the desired
orientation, then secure the free splicing sleeve 61 on again for
meeting operating in a lower narrow, place.
2. working as an inflating gun:
Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, as trying to inflate a
tire, replace the jet adapter with the inflating adapter 70 on the
versatile adapter 50 so that the air valve 72 of the tire stretches
into the front end hole 612 of the free splicing sleeve 61 to make
the nose-spike 712 to press the valve stem 721 of the air valve 72
back, in order to open the air valve of the tire, as pressing the
trigger button so that the compressed air is led into the tire.
In the garage, the workers can work with a blasting gun and an
inflating with only one air fountain without replacing any
accessory.
3. working as a painting gun:
Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the spray adapter 80
provided by the present invention can be located on the head end of
the versatile adapter 50 by the free splicing sleeve 61, thereby
generate a great suction force in the housing hole 817 of the
manifold 816 as the compressed air passing through the spray
adapter 80, at the same time some compressed air is led into the
fitting valve 83 via a by-passing diversion hole 818, then through
the bevel holes 838 enters the housing hole 817 to intense the
absorbing force of the housing hole 817.
(1) spraying priming paint operation:
Referring to FIG. 12, the compressed air is led into the jet
exhaust 814 of the nozzle carrier 81 via the nozzle hole 828 of the
nozzle valve 82, and jets out from the front end hole 813,
meanwhile generating a suction force in the housing hole 817 of the
manifold 816, adding some compressed air enter the inner threaded
hole 811 via the side-wind holes 8271 on the nozzle section 827 of
the nozzle valve 82, then some flows into the front end hole 813
through the diversion holes 815; and some is led into the ring dent
837 of the fitting valve 83 via the bevel diversion hole 818, then
enters the housing hole 817 through the bevel nozzle holes 838, and
mixes with the absorbed paint, then flow into the jet exhaust 814,
thereby intense the suction force several times, hence the length
of the hose 22 can be claimed longer than the conventional to get
the bottom of the priming paint can to absorb the paint up to be
atomised, and mixes with the air led in via the diversion holes 815
for reducing the pressure and the flowing speed, then be jetted out
from the front end hole 813 to form a radial cone fog mixture
current with a round stick range.
(2) spraying cleaning operation:
Referring to FIG. 13, attach a blowpipe on the nipple 812 of the
spray adapter 80 with the fitting 62 by the free splicing sleeve 61
in screw connection to assemble a high speed jet cleaning gun.
Wherein the toluene in the tank is absorbed into front end hole 813
and mixed by the high speed jetting current and assistant jetting
current to form a high pressure air and liquid mixed current, to be
jetted out through the outlet of the blowpipe 622 to improve the
clean effect greatly, and the hose 22 can be demanded longer, so
the operation range of the worker is increased efficiently.
(3) spraying paint operation:
Because the stick range of the sprayed paint is claimed into an
oval difference with spraying priming paint, therefore for meeting
this goal, install the painting adapter 90 on the spraying adapter
80 to assemble a painting gun, as shown on FIG. 14, FIG. 15 and
FIG. 16, by securing the painting adapter 90 on the nipple 812. The
compressed air mixes with the pumped paint in the jet exhaust 814
and the blind hole 925, then is atomised as passing through the jet
pin-holes 926; on the other way, some compressed air is led into
the front end hole 813 by the diversion hole 815, then via two
bevel holes 928 on the two fins 927 of the cylinder 921 the
compressed air is jetted out to run into the atomised paint so that
the rate of the air current is changed, therefore the horn shape of
the jetting paint is changed too to have an oval stick range,
thereby carry out a common painting operation. On the other hand,
as the painting valve 92 is located by the end socket ring 91, the
rear end of the extension tube 924 is pressed against the rear end
of the front end hole 813. As trying to change the jet orient of
the painting adapter 90, loose the end socket ring 91 to free the
painting valve 92, then turn it to the desired direction, secure
the end socket ring 91 on again.
Additionally, referring to FIG. 17, by means of an adapter 85, a
paint can 96 is fixed on the manifold 916 of the nozzle carrier to
assemble a painting gun.
* * * * *